Bath Conservatives speak out

Bath LP Lambridge voice their views...

This is partly why cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott is trending on twitter

17:46

Cricket analogies galore from press and PM

PM says: “Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got there in the end.”

17:45

Bath MP has her view on the conference

17:45

'No second referendum'

Prime Minister Theresa May rules out a second referendum.

17:39

Theresa May news conference

PM says: “Leadership is about taking the right decision and not the easy ones”

“Am I going to see this through? Yes.”

17:38

PM facing a baptism of fire

Robert Peston says to the PM that the Conservatives at the moment are deeply divided.

“Are you prepared to risk the break up of the party to deliver the deal you believe in?”

17:34

Is Theresa May in 'denial'?

SKY News asks if PM is in denial.

Theresa May repeats her statement that the course she has set out on is the right one and that it is about taking the right decisions, not the easy ones.

17:32

Theresa May defiant

The Prime Minister repeats her stance that she is delivering the ‘will of the British people’

17:30

Is Theresa May in office but not in power?

BBC journalist puts to the PM: “You are in office but are you in power?”

17:27

PM says she is honouring the Brexit vote

She said at the conference: “This is a Brexit that delivers on the priorities of the British people”

17:27

More from Prime Minister Theresa May

She talks about the need to “Honour their vote in the referendum”

17:26

Prime Minister Theresa May speaks:

The PM talks about ‘putting the nation first’ and not putting her beliefs first at her conference.

17:18

Snapshot of what Jacob Rees-Mogg said to the press earlier today

17:16

The BBC's Andrew Neil weighs in the the Jacob Rees-Mogg news storm

17:02

Timeline of Brexit chaos

Prime Minister Theresa May stepped out of 10 Downing Street at about 7.15pm on Wednesday following a marathon five-hour Cabinet meeting and announced the Cabinet had agreed the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.

She said: “The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop, but the collective decision of Cabinet was that the Government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration.”

- 8pm - Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, writes to European Council President Donald Tusk to say that the withdrawal negotiations had concluded and the next step in the process can begin.

Thursday, November 15

- 7.30am - Donald Tusk announces the council will hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels on November 25 to finalise the UK’s withdrawal agreement.

- 7.30am - Shailesh Vara quits as Northern Ireland Minister.

- 8.50am - Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab quits.

- 10am - Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey resigns.

- 10.20am - Suella Braverman resigns as a Brexit minister.

- 10.20am - Anne-Marie Trevelyan quits as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Education.

Who is Jacob Rees-Mogg

16:51

How many have sent letters so far?

It is impossible to say for certain, as Sir Graham keeps the actual number a closely guarded secret. But ERG MPs believe it to be very close to the 48 required. Mr Rees-Mogg said that he believed the necessary letters would be submitted, but declined to put a time frame on the process.

16:36

Confrontation over leadership

Jacob Rees-Mogg has formally challenged Theresa May’s leadership of the Conservative party shortly after confronting the prime minister in the Commons.

According to media sources the north east Somerset MP has written a letter formally declaring his lack of confidence in the party leader.

The news has emerged shortly after he asked Theresa May whether he should help trigger a leadership challenge.

During a Commons session on the government’s proposed Brexit deal, MPs heard Tory opposition to the plan was “going up by the hour”.

The leading Tory Eurosceptic highlighted areas of the draft exit deal where he said the “honourable” Prime Minister had reneged on promises over leaving the customs union, maintaining the internal integrity of the UK and leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Speaking in the Commons, chairman of the European Research Group Mr Rees-Mogg added: “As what my right honourable friend says and what my right honourable friend does no longer match, should I not write to my right honourable friend the member for Altrincham and Sale West?”

This was a reference to Sir Graham Brady MP, the chairman of the Tory 1922 committee, to whom MPs must write to express no confidence in aleader in order to trigger a challenge.

16:35

The letter in full

Here is the letter in full:

The Rt. Hon. Sir Graham Brady, M.P.,

Chairman of the 1922 Committee,

House of Commons,

London, SW1A 0AA.

15th November 2018

A few weeks ago, in a conversation with the Chief Whip I expressed my concern that the Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, was losing the confidence of Conservative Members of Parliament and that it would be in the interest of the Party and the country if she were to stand aside.

I have wanted to avoid the disagreeable nature of a formal Vote of No Confidence with all the ill will that this risks engendering.

Regrettably, the draft Withdrawal Agreement presented to Parliament today has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the Prime Minister, either on her own account or on behalf of us all in the Conservative Party Manifesto.

That the Conservative and Unionist Party is proposing a Protocol which would create a different regulatory environment for an integral part of our country stands in contradistinction to our long-held principles.

It is in opposition to the Prime Minister’s clear statements that this was something that no Prime Minister would ever do and raises questions in relation to Scotland that are open to exploitation by the Scottish National Party.

The 2017 Election Manifesto said that the United Kingdom would leave the Customs Union. It did not qualify this statement by saying that we could stay in it via a backstop while Annex 2, Article 3 explicitly says that we would have no authority to set our own tariffs. It is also harder to leave this backstop than it is to leave the EU, there is no provision equivalent to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Prime Minister also promised an implementation period which was the reason for paying £39 billion. As was made clear by a House of Lords report in March 2017 there is no legal obligation to pay anything. This has now become an extended period of negotiation which is a different matter.

The situation as regards the European Court of Justice appears to have wandered from the clear statement that we are taking back control of our laws. Article 174 makes this clear as does Article 89 in conjunction with Article 4.

It is of considerable importance that politicians stick to their commitments or do not make such commitments in the first place. Regrettably, this is not the situation, therefore, in accordance with the relevant rules and procedures of the Conservative Party and the 1922 Committee this is a formal letter of No Confidence in the Leader of the Party, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May.

I am copying this letter to the Prime Minister and the Chief Whip and although I understand that it is possible for the correspondence to remain confidential I shall be making it public.